4. Like all planets in our solar system, the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around our Sun. In Earth's case, its orbit is nearly circular, so that the difference between Earth's farthest point from the Sun and its closest point is very small. Earth's orbit defines a two-dimensional plane which we call the ecliptic. It takes roughly 365 days for the Earth to go around the Sun once. This means that the Earth is rushing through space around the Sun at a rate of about 67,000 miles per hour! The time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun one full time is what we call a year. The combined effect of the Earth's orbital motion and the tilt of its rotation axis result in the seasons.
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9. The first days of the seasons are solstices and equinoxes. These are key periods within Earth-Sun Relationships.
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13. Analemma WHAT IS AN ANALEMMA? An analemma is a natural pattern traced out annually in the sky by the Sun.
24. http://vrum.chat.ru/Photo/Astro/analema.htm It shows position of the Sun on the sky in the same time of a day during one year. Analemma - a trace of the annual movement of the Sun on the sky - is well known among experts of sun-dials and old Earth's globes as a diagram of change of seasons and an equation of time. Between August 30th 1998 and August 19th 1999 I have photographed the Sun 36 times on a single frame of 60-mm film. The pictures were taken exactly at 5:45 UT (Universal time) of every tenth day.